the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: News

Media Credit: James Liu Here's lookin' at you, kid: Part of a traveling exhibit, seven sculptures by James Surls will watch over campus until August 2010.

Miracle-Gro is not responsible for the sculptures that have cropped up on campus; James Surls is. Rice was selected as the venue for seven of Surls' bronze and steel installation pieces, which are now featured in the Central and West Quads, the field next to Herring Hall and the area outside the BioScience Research Collaborative.

The sculptures are part of a traveling exhibit that had been on display on New York City's Park Avenue. When University Art Director Molly Hubbard heard the show was coming to Houston, she submitted a bid for Rice to host the sculptures.

Hubbard said the Houston Art Alliance, which organized the Houston leg of the exhibition, selected Rice over city parks, promenades, and the art-friendly Heights District. Once HAA chose Rice as the exhibition site, Hubbard said the University Art Committee quickly accepted the bid.

Both HAA and the committee raised funds to cover the hard costs of the exhibition, which included the installation process, signage, securing a project manager and covering cost of shipping the sculpture to Houston from a Connecticut warehouse. Rice did not pay anything out of pocket.

A Public Art Program student intern, Bradley Houston, said the committee applied for, and was awarded, a $20,000 grant from the city of Houston for exhibition publicity and promotion.

These funds will cover publishing costs of maps and guides, which will be placed in local hotels and tourist attractions, making exhibition posters and creating an iPhone application that pinpoints the location of the various art pieces on a campus map.

Houston, a Baker College senior, said the show is unique because of the extensive collaborative effort needed to bring it to Rice.

"It's a true community of Houston collaboration; it's not just a Rice event," Houston said.

Hubbard echoed Houston's sentiments about the show.

"We at Rice have utilized the resources of others and partnered in a true collaboration to bring this exhibition to Houston and to Rice," Hubbard said.

Hubbard said the sculptures arrived in Houston Feb. 19 and installation began the next day. After minor installation difficulties that day, the exhibit was fully installed by midday Feb. 21.

Continued...

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